Scheduling, Training Administration, and Records (STAR) V0.4 Release

The Scheduling, Training Administration, and Records (STAR) team achieved a major milestone on July 7, 2009 with the release of STAR v0.4. This release represents one of the first major production releases of the STAR application with significant functionality for use by the Johnson Space Center’s Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) community.

STAR v0.4 represents the first large step to retiring the antiquated software platform known as the Training Administration Management System (TAMS). A key functionality that was successfully retired from TAMS was the ability of producing the Integrated Simulation Schedules which is now exclusively performed with STAR. These integrated simulation schedules are utilized for astronaut crew, flight controller, and instructor simulation-based training in the Mission Control Center (MCC), Space Station Training Facility (SSTF), and Shuttle Mission Simulator (SMS).

TAMS has been MOD’s flagship software application for training, tracking objectives, certifications, and event completions for astronauts, flight controllers, and instructors since the late 1970s. Many attempts in the history of NASA’s human spaceflight have been made to attempt to retire TAMS, but they all have failed for a multitude of reasons. STAR, and more specifically release 0.4, is the first major step to achieving the goal of retiring TAMS.

This release was a very impressive undertaking by a joint team distributed across two centers working tirelessly to make this a success. With the release of version 0.4, STAR provides a very tangible product with real users across JSC’s Mission Operations Directorate. The STAR Control Board Chair Matt Abbott, also the Division Chief of the JSC Spaceflight Training Management Office, has stated, “This is a very exciting time for STAR.”

BACKGROUND: STAR is NASA’s next-generation training management system for crew, instructors, and flight controllers. It will replace the existing Training Administration Management System (TAMS), Flight Operations Curriculum Administration System (FOCAS), and a host of approximately 100 disparate tools with an enterprise system that provides integrated curriculum development and documentation, customized training plans, scheduling of personnel and facilities, training event feedback, and other training resources. All modules are being designed for maximum efficiency and interoperability. In an iterative process, event feedback will be used to help optimize the training plans.

PROGRAM FUNDING: The STAR project is an MOD-funded effort to develop the next-generation training management system for MOD for training of Astronauts, Flight Controllers, and Instructors. It is funded for FY09 entirely by the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) through an Intercenter Task Agreement (ITA) between JSC/MOD and ARC-TI.